Credit: Silversea

SILVERSEA Cruises has revealed plans to move the Silver Cloud vessel to its expedition fleet in November 2017. Extensive refurbishment is expected to start in August 2017 to convert the 296-guest ship into an ice-class ship.

The all-suite Silver Cloud will accommodate 260 guests and sail on itineraries to non-polar regions as well. When sailing Arctic and Antarctic itineraries, the number of guests will be restricted to 200 in accordance with sustainable tourism guidelines.

Amenities include free beverages, wines and spirits, a stocked in-suite beverage cabinet and Wi-Fi.

Silver Cloud also offers five dining options, including The Dining Room, Relais & Chateaux restaurant, La Terrazza, The Grill and in-suite dining.

A total of 18 Zodiac sea-crafts can also be found onboard for complimentary up-close expeditions, led by experts in various scientific fields.

Credit: Hotel Jen

SHANGRI-LA International Hotel Management has unveiled plans to develop Hotel Jen Kota Kinabalu, the brand’s first property in Borneo and the third in Malaysia.

Opening in 2018, the 440-key hotel will be located on top of PacifiCity mall in Likas Bay, opposite the Sabah Trade Centre and near the new Sabah International Convention Centre currently under construction.

It will comprise twin iconic towers and offer views of the South China Sea, coastal wetlands and Mount Kinabalu.

Amenities include a fitness centre, 75m resort-style pool, children’s pool and play area, and private club lounge with bistro, lounge and al fresco café. Meeting and convention facilities are also available, including a column-less ballroom.

Credit: Hotel Jen

For F&B options, there is Jen’s Kitchen, which offers all-day dining with local specialties and international cuisine, while Jen’s Kitchen On-The-Go is a deli counter offering easy-to-eat meals.

The announcement was made today by Shangri-La International Hotel Management and Pacific Sanctuary Holdings during a signing ceremony at Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa, Kota Kinabalu.

Red Roof Inn Winchester, Virginia. Credit: Red Roof Inn

US-BASED Red Roof Inn has struck up a partnership agreement with Thailand’s Paragon Hotels to introduce its upscale economy hotel brand into Asia.

The first property in Thailand is set for a 2016 opening, with more hotels planned in major tourist locations across the country between 2017-2020.

“Red Roof is quality at a comfortable price and that’s exactly what the Thai travel market needed,” said Rajinder S Sidhu, Paragon Hotels. “We see Red Roof as a global brand that’s expanding rapidly, not just the best US brand, and we knew this was the right time to bring Red Roof’s value and quality to the market that’s not being serviced correctly.”

Red Roof chief development officer, Phil Hugh, added: “With the first series of locations strategically selected by Paragon Hotels expected to roll out throughout Thailand, Red Roof will have immediate brand density and exposure across the country.”

Hoping to create brand consistency and loyalty, Paragon Hotels said in a statement that its strategy will be to roll out a series of new-build hotels, deploying Red Roofs’ NexGen concept to ensure that the interiors and façades are immediately recognisable.

Targeting both leisure and business international and domestic travellers, Paragon Hotels hopes to eventually expand the Red Roof brand across Asia in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, Red Roof has opened its first international location in Brazil in partnership with the Brazil-based Nobile Hoteis.

Credit: 7132

A HOTEL and thermal spa in Vals, Graubunden, is bent on attracting Swiss and international jet-setters with an iPhone-slim hotel tower extension and new rooms/suites designed by well-known Japanese architects Tadao Ando and Kengo Kuma.

The surge of energy springs from a new owning company, 7132, led by entrepreneur Remo Stoffel, who was born in Vals and bought the property from the local community three years ago. Formerly known as Therme Hotel & Spa, the resort has been renamed 7132 Hotel, 7132 being the postal code of Vals.

7123 has picked a controversial design by American architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis for its new tower: a startlingly slender 381m tall building with 107 rooms – virtually one room per floor – with a transparent exterior sheen that will mirror the mountains. If all goes well, it will open in 2019.

But first, the company has to win the votes of the community for the tower. A gallery with large-scale models and full details is being set up at 7132 Hotel and will be open for local community viewing in October, said Sonia Dietrich, managing director of the hotel.

Meanwhile, renovations at the existing hotel, which comprises a main wing and another wing called Selva House, were completed last month. The latter, renamed House of Architects, now fields 13 new rooms designed by Kuma and 18 new rooms by Ando, both highly skilled at deflecting a 20m2 space with their eye-popping minimalist design and unique effects. For instance, Kuma uses warm, curved wooden panels to create a soft cocoon of a room, while Ando sliced a triangle off a rectangular space for the bathroom.

Morphosis’ Mayne is also designing another 20 rooms which will be ready by summer 2016, revealed Dietrich.

These new rooms join 20 retro-chic rooms designed by Peter Zumthor – the original Swiss architect behind the hotel – and its famous thermal springs spa, completing the concept to offer designer rooms in the House of Architects.

In the main building, three new 90m2 suites designed by Kuma have also opened. Each suite booking comes with a helicopter or a limousine at the guest’s disposal in case he spontaneously wants to lunch in Geneva, shop in Zurich, whatever takes his fancy, at the rate of 2,480 francs (US$2,562) per night.

The 35 Zumthor rooms in the main building – larger at 24-30m2 compared with those in the House of Architects (18-20m2) and more luxuriously furnished – have also been spruced up, with new bathrooms designed by Kuma.

A new meditation park, Valser Path, to be opened to hotel guests and the public, is also being designed by Ando. It is scheduled for completion in 2017. Both the park and the new tower are within the hotel complex, which sits above the town centre and blends quietly into the natural surroundings.

Dietrich said the main difference since the new ownership came onboard was that, “for the first time since 30 years, we have the vision, plans and money to invest”.

“It is now difficult for Switzerland to get good guests because the Swiss franc is strong. You can’t build a three-star hotel, you need something unique to compete. We have to go this way,” she said.

She believes the changes at 7132 Hotel will draw more top-paying guests who love architecture and design, thermal springs, top-notch service and F&B (one of the restaurants is helmed by Sven Wassmer who previously worked for Michelin-star chef Nenad Mlinarevic) and a destination that does not attract mass tourism.

Prospects from Asia are good, she said. “Even though there aren’t a lot of Asian guests at the moment, it might improve in time with the Japanese architects’ involvement. Most of the Asian guests we have are FITs from South Korea, Japan and China, and their main reason for coming here is the therme, the architecture and a desire to enjoy unspoilt areas of Switzerland,” Dietrich said.

Prices have increased following the renovations and rates have been simplified: 390 francs for rooms in the House of Architects and 590 francs for rooms in the main building.

– Read the full report in the next issue of TTG Asia Luxury, December 1, 2015